The Boy Who Wouldn't Go to Bed

by Helen Cooper

Book Overview

Determined to stay up all night, a young boy rides his little car around the house and begs a tiger, a marching band, and other toys to join him, but one by one they all drift off to sleep."

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0803722532
• ISBN13: 9780803722538
• Release Date: June 1997
• Publisher: Dial Books
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 10.2" x 10.1"
• Age Range: 3 to 7 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 2

Customer Reviews

A "bad" baby's journey into night

It doesn't take long for the trouble to start in "The Boy who wouldn't go to Bed". Confronted with the age-old parental imperative of "Bedtime", appalled at the absurdity of such a command when "it's still light", and utterly unintimidated by the power disparity involved, the baby retorts with a steely "No!", hops into his car and roars off into the night, leaving his mother far behind. At the outset the illustrations are suffused with a beautiful golden light but as the journey progresses that light begins to fail and we are left to reflect on the wisdom of the baby's decision.This baby is a man of action who is bound to appeal to any child who's ever confronted an "unreasonable" bedtime, or any other "unreasonable" parental dictat. His dynamic response shows from the outset that he is a force to be reckoned with who will not kowtow to authority figures, no matter now mighty. The stage is set for a showdown more reminiscent of "Cool-Hand Luke" or "Braveheart", for it is clear our hero is prepared to match himself against any adversary. No whining, crying or ineffectual complaining here, but a forthright declaration of independence by the baby. Yet as the story progresses it is clear that independence has its price. The baby's long journey into night brings him up against all kinds of dark, mysterious characters, each with their own, sleep-related agenda. The night world beyond the bedroom soon proves resistant (or at least too sleepy to respond) to the baby's efforts to command it and as the tale progresses even the baby's faithful car threatens to fail him. The baby searches in vain for reliable (or at least wakeful) companions to share his adventures but without a Gandalf to help him assemble a "fellowship" his journey to the world of darkness threatens to be a lonely one. And just when it looks like he's really on his own, it becomes apparent that something or someone is pursuing the baby, and not until the book's grand finale do we see who that pursuer is (though knowing parents can probably guess!). The book's message, if it has one, is that there are primordial forces in this world that even a baby with a car should hesitate to match himself against, and that the rhythms of nighttimes and bedtimes are beyond the power of mere children to challenge. Like King Canute, by book end the baby has learned an important lesson about the power of nature and that we all have to sleep sometime.Helen Cooper conveys that lesson with incredible skill. Her beautiful, award-winning illustrations capture the light of the failing day perfectly, and the progression from gold to dusk to gloom enhances the sense of a journey from one realm to another. And at the end of the book we see that the strange creatures and settings our hero encounters have their analogues much closer to home.Like Scorcese's "After Hours", this book is perfect at conveying that sense of things closing down for the night, and the terrors of being caught outside alone, far from home, in a

Great book

My almost 2 year old son got this book for X-mas.We have been reading it everyday since. He loves it! After reading this book 3 or 4 times he says sleepy now when it is time to go to bed. I like it because it seems to get the message across that night is for sleeping. Plus it has beautiful illustrations and the text isn't completely assanine. After writing this I am going to buy some more of this authors books. Too bad she doesn't have one about going to the potty :)

Great book

My almost 2 year old son got this book for X-mas.We have been reading it everyday since. He loves it! After reading this book 3 or 4 times he says sleepy now when it is time to go to bed. I like it because it seems to get the message across that night is for sleeping. Plus it has beautiful illustrations and the text isn't completely assanine. After writing this I am going to but some more of this authors books. Too bad she doesn't have one about going to the potty:)

The Baby Who Wouldn't Go to Bed

My neighbor lent this book to me when I was having trouble getting my 2 year old to go to bed and go to sleep with it being light out at bedtime during the summer. She loved the book and would ask for me to read it again every night. It is one of her favorite books. The action words really invite her to get involved in the story. Words like "vrrruuum-chugga-chug", roaring tigers, parading soldiers,resting not racing trains, musicians playing a lullaby, a sighing drowsy moon, and a yawning baby who doesn't want to stay up all night after his adventures. This could be a classic book.

A new bedtime classic!

What a story! A small boy refuses to go to sleep and vrooms away from his mama in a toy car...on his way to the sleepy world where his toy animals and toy soldiers and train await him. The mother is looking for the boy and will not sleep until she finds him, at which point the boy asks to go to sleep. My 3 year old son loves this book. He likes the independence of the boy who says no to his mother when she asks if he is ready for bed. (As though my son actually articulated this to me). The illustrations are wonderful and the story line is terrific. My son actually yawns when the toys yawn and when the little boy is finally ready to go to sleep, so is my son. Highly, highly recommended!